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Defensive battle goes to the Redmen

By James Albert, Sun Correspondent

Updated:
11/23/2012 08:48:59 AM EST

Tewksbury's Zak DiRocco grabs the ball for an interception of a Wilmington pass intended for Brian Priam (43). JOEBROWNPHOTOS.COM

WILMINGTON -- For the second straight year and the fourth time in the past five years, the Tewksbury High football team defeated rival Wilmington, 18-6, during the 79th meeting between the schools on a gorgeous sunny morning at Alumni Stadium.

Tewksbury 18, Wilmington 6

Tewksbury (7-4) will continue its season with a rematch of last year's Division 2 semifinal playoff game at Reading on Tuesday night.

Against WHS, the Redmen didn't play particularly well, but were able to jump out to a 12-0 lead after the first quarter.

Wilmington (2-9) dropped its final five contests. The Wildcats, who were victimized by a handful of lopsided defeats, played well defensively, but turned the ball over four times.

Matovu and Aylward ran in scores in the first quarter before Casey added one in the third quarter, making it 18-0.

"I thought we did some good things early and then I thought we struggled at times and that was disappointing," said Redmen coach Brian Aylward. "I don't think that was our best performance and that has to be on us (as coaches) and we have to (quickly) figure out how to get better on the things we need to get better on for Tuesday.

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But the benefit now is we can shift our gears to Tuesday. We did some good things but I also think Wilmington was ready. "

Tewksbury took the opening kickoff and started at its own 40. The Redmen quickly marched down the field, putting together an eight-play, 60-yard drive. It was started by a nice lateral pass to Sullivan, who went 15 yards, and it ended when Matovu took a 5-yard rush to his right. The conversion pass failed after the snap was high.

Tewksbury's Ryan Bednarek just manages to tip the ball before Wilmington's Tim Woods can make the catch during Thursday s action. JOEBROWNPHOTOS.COM

The teams traded punts, and then Wilmington moved the ball just inside Tewksbury territory, but Tewksbury got the ball back after co-captain Christian Taylor recovered a fumble. Two plays later, Aylward went untouched for a 40-yard TD run. Again, the pass conversion failed and Tewksbury led 12-0 with four seconds left in the first quarter.

The teams traded punts before Wilmington strung together a successful drive, moving the ball from its own 7 to the Redmen 15. But on second down, Ryan Bednarek of Tewksbury intercepted a pass to negate the drive and the teams eventually headed into the halftime break with Tewksbury leading 12-0.

Tewksbury scored its third and final touchdown on its first drive of the third quarter as Casey capped off a quick five-play, 48-yard drive by running one in from the 2, making it 18-0. Wilmington fumbled the ball on its first play on the ensuing drive and then later in the quarter turned the ball over on downs just inside the 50.

With 8:46 left in the game, Wilmington started its only scoring drive on its own 30. On the second play, Tewksbury's Zak DiRocco intercepted a pass but on the return the ball was fumbled and Wilmington recovered.

Two plays later, quarterback James O'Regan (10-for-24, 156 yards) found senior Tim Woods (5 catches, 115 yards) wide open for what appeared to be a 71-yard touchdown, but Woods was flagged for a taunting penalty before reaching the end zone, which brought the ball back to the Redmen 20. Four plays later, on fourth-and-five from the 15, O'Regan found Sam Borseti for a 15-yard TD strike, putting Wilmington on the scoreboard. But obviously that wasn't enough.

"(Tewksbury) kind of handled us upfront a little bit, which was the difference in the overall game," said Wildcat head coach Mike Barry. "They are a good team and we knew they were a good team coming into the game. But I thought our kids fought hard all game. We made a couple of mistakes early on but the effort was there all game. When the season gets down (to this game and you're out of it) a lot of teams pack in it but we didn't. We kept fighting but it just didn't happen for us today."

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